NOAA sets guidelines to save entangled whales

Chris Pica, 49, of San Clemente tosses an orange buoy out of the back of a rubber dinghy during a whale-rescue training exercise. MACKENZIE REISS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Dave Anderson, pictured left, offers advice to rescue volunteers in-training as they struggle to secure a hook around a line of rope during a whale-rescue training exercise. MACKENZIE REISS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Dave Anderson guides Chris Pica and Tom Southern through a whale-rescue training exercise off the coast of Dana Point. Their objective was to secure a hook to a line of rope being pulled by a boat. MACKENZIE REISS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Tom Southern, 51, of San Clemente untangles a rope that will be used during a whale-rescue training exercise off the coast of Dana Point, lead by Dave Anderson. MACKENZIE REISS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Dave Anderson of Capt. Dave's Dolphin & Whale Watching Safari has studied whales for decades and aided in many whale-disentanglement issues over the years. MACKENZIE REISS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Dave Anderson guides Chris Pica and Tom Southern through a whale-rescue training exercise off the coast of Dana Point. Their objective was to secure a hook to a line of rope being pulled by a boat, which simulated a moving whale. MACKENZIE REISS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Barry Curtis, 52, of Laguna Beach pulls tight on a line of rope after he attaches a hook to an orange buoy. MACKENZIE REISS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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A whale rescue volunteer pulls a line tight after he secures a grappling hook to a moving orange buoy during whale-rescue training, led by Dave Anderson off the coast of Dana Point. MACKENZIE REISS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Barry Curtis, 52, of Laguna Beach takes a break between attempts at securing a hook around a line of rope during whale-rescue training. MACKENZIE REISS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Dave Anderson debriefs his crew of volunteers on their performance during a whale-rescue training exercise in Dana Point. MACKENZIE REISS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Dave Anderson of Dave's Dolphin & Whale Safari has studied whales for decades and aided in many whale disentanglement issues over the years. MACKENZIE REISS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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A tail-wrapped humpback whale is rescued by NOAA. COURTESY OF EDWARD LYMAN

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DANA POINT – Riding in an inflatable boat, Tom Southern tossed a grapple line in front of an orange buoy racing through churning sea swell as it was towed by a 35-foot tour boat.

The larger vessel trailing the line and buoy simulates an entangled whale, and the grapple throw is part of a disentanglement training exercise. Southern, a veteran whale-watch captain, held steady and hit his mark. With the grapple in place, he bent the line attached to the boat over the bow of his inflatable and went for what is referred to as a Nantucket sleigh ride. The training is a modification of an old whaling technique called kegging.

Southern, 51, of San Clemente is one of a dozen members of Dolphin Safari Whale Rescue, assembled to aid whales caught in fishing gear, traps and marine debris. Dave Anderson, of San Juan Capistrano, who founded the first Orange County whale rescue group, started the new task force to raise awareness about whale entanglement and the nearly 1,000 whales and dolphins dying each day in nets and fishing gear across the world.

The entanglements and the often highly publicized rescue efforts have drawn out marine mammal enthusiasts, whale-watch captains and marine mammal rescue groups wanting to help. While the groups' passions are well-intentioned, some rescue attempts have led to controversies and, in some cases, competition over who is in charge of a rescue in California.

This has led the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Marine Fisheries Service – the federal agency that protects marine life – to review rescue groups and develop protocol to avoid confusion and mishaps.

"Right now, if a whale shows up, there isn't a set protocol on who will do what with it," Anderson said. "Right now, we and the Pacific Marine Mammal Center are just two different groups responsible to respond to a whale that's tangled. The way it seems now is whoever gets to the whale first takes the lead. Our two groups are not on good terms with one another. If they are in charge of disentanglement and we're not involved, I don't feel that that is in the best interest of the whale."

In April, boat captains outside Newport Beach spotted a gray whale caught in a crab trap. A rope from the trap went around its head, through its mouth and pinned its left pectoral flipper. Anderson and his team came upon it off Dana Point. For two hours, they stayed with the whale and observed its behavior.

Anderson, who had succesfully freed a whale just weeks before, contacted NOAA to begin disentanglement but was told the Pacific Marine Mammal Center was in charge. Anderson and his crew followed the whale for two hours until PMMC's crew arrived and Anderson said his help and input was dismissed, though at the time the two were part of the same group.

"Normally we attach ourselves to the netting, allow the whale to tow us along and use a pole with a knife to disentangle it," he said. "The whale was peacefully swimming next to us, and we realized the only way to free it was to cut the rope from around its head without attaching ourselves or buoys."

Pacific Marine Mammal Center staff attached three buoys to try to help the whale.

The whale dove, disappeared and a highly publicized search was on. A week later, the whale was spotted near central California. NOAA fisheries sent boats and a plane to locate it but were unsuccessful. In early May, crab fishermen in Bodega Bay spotted it and freed it using the technique Anderson wanted to use weeks before.

After the incident, Anderson and other boat captains wrote letters and filed complaints with NOAA. They asked why the marine mammal center, a rescue and rehabilitation center for seals and sea lions, was given priority on the rescue. The dispute led to a rift between the groups.

Lauren Saez, a marine biologist with the fisheries group, said the center was put in charge because the group was the lead under direction of an agency member who was on leave. Saez said the situation became even more difficult because of the multiple whale rescues last year and because it was difficult for NOAA officials to know what was going on from their offices.

Keith Matassa, the marine mammal center's new executive director, said everything his group did during the rescue effort was under direction of NOAA. Since then, he's had several meetings with the agency and considers the past "lessons learned."

"My biggest thing is to have PMMC work with NOAA and with Captain Dave and as a team do the best thing for the whale," Matassa said. "When the whale call comes in, NOAA will dispatch whoever they think is necessary."

Under the Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program, NOAA oversees whale disentanglements nationwide. In California, NOAA has required all rescue groups to become certified. They are now formalizing a protocol for the rescue process.

NOAA rates each rescue group based on its background, experience and knowledge of marine mammals. Right now, Anderson's group and the Pacific Marine Mammal Center are designated as level-three responders. That means that, once they've identified an entangled whale, they report the sighting to NOAA. Keith Yip, of Sea World, is a level-four responder and will be responsible for directing Anderson and the center on the best way to proceed.

Ed Lyman, who oversees NOAA's whale-disentanglement training on the West Coast, helped develop the rescue protocol. "To do this type of work is dangerous. You have to have the correct tools," Lyman said. "Whales can be hurt or harmed, and people have gotten hurt or killed. We look at people with a combination of experience and training. Working on the water helps learning whale behavior. It can give you an edge in freeing the animal and working around it."

Warning signs include changes in whales' behavior, such as erratic diving, tail swishing, trumpeting from humpbacks or wheezing while clearing a blowhole, he said.

The number of verified entangled whales in California has risen from 10 in 2004 to 20 last year. Sightings are opportunistic, and their location does not necessarily coincide with the location where they become entangled, Saez said.

Ninety percent of gray whales migrate each year from Alaska to the lagoons of Baja California and back. Most of the entangled animals are found heading north, leading experts to say entanglement debris is being picked up in Mexico, Saez said.

Federally protected humpback whales and local fin whales are also found trapped.

"Cutting the whale free will save one," Lyman said. "Figuring out what happened can save many. As hard as Dave Anderson's trying to find them and save them, in the end, he's not going to find them all."

Anderson said he became passionate about helping entangled whales after realizing that thousands who come out to whale watch don't know entanglements are the animal's biggest threat.

"If my passengers who love whales enough to come and visit them are unaware that this is the biggest threat dolphins and whales face, then others who don't certainly don't know."

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